An
interesting take on all those movies like
The Running Man, The Most Dangerous Game Alive, Tender Flesh, Turkey Shoot,
etc. – except that there isn’t a hunter and the hunted, rather two hunters. And
Harry is the king of the hunters, an ex-merc capable only of killing. A Button
Man used as a pawn in a high-risk, high-stakes game by his master, The Voice.
But when Harry decides to quit the game, he must fight for his life because
“you can’t quit...not in this game”. Ranson’s realistic, gritty art is perfect
for Wagner’s nourish, dark scripts. I’m so glad I got to read the full series
in one hit (and scoring the book at 20% off during Kings Comics’ Black Friday
sale was a bonus. That said, Australian shops holding Black Friday sales is as
absurd as Australia celebrating other US-centric occasions such as Halloween.
End of rant.)

I’m a
sucker for yarns about Scorpio, the evil brother of Nick Fury. I’ve loved the
character since I first read the tremendous “Who Remembers Scorpio?” arc in The Defenders #46-50. The Scorpio Connection was an original
graphic novel that saw the character revived, this time as Jake’s twisted,
brainwashed son, out for revenge against Uncle Nick. Of course, there’s a twist
at the end to ensure the character wouldn’t disappear and remain of even
greater relevance to Nick Fury. Goodwin’s script is tight and Chaykin is,
well...Chaykin. Which is pretty damn good. The second yarn doesn’t feature Scorpio,
just Fury vs Wolvie is classic Buscema...take that as you will. I always thought
Big John was phoning in his work in the latter part of his career. But he’s
still head and shoulders above “artist extraordinaire” McManus, who appears to
have learned his art by reading Liefeld comics. Chaykin the writer is 180° away
from Chaykin the artist. It’s a really ordinary “sequel” that completely
deballs the new Scorpio character, reducing him to caricature. It’s a sad end
to what was a promising character. Still, overall, I can’t fault a TPB that
features Goodwin in his prime as a writer, and great art from Chaykin, plus
good art from Buscema. I’ve bought less for more.

8. 7
Against Chaos (DC, 2013) ***½

Writer:
Harlan Ellison/Artists: Paul Chadwick & Ken Steacy

Old-school
sci-fi – I got a kick out of this...even if it DOES feel like it was written in
the 1970s.

The
dreaded fill-in issue, made slightly more poignant by the fact that artist
Brown died just before this went to print. I never liked Brown’s art on The Avengers, but he does a passable
Cockrum in this tale of new X-men fighting old X-Men (they’re Danger Room
fakes, it’s eventually revealed). I picked this mag in near-mint condition for
three bucks from Elizabeth’s – it retails for US$180 in the same condition at
Lone Star. So I can’t complain.

10. WCW
#2 (Marvel, 1992) *

Writer:
Mike Lackey/Artists: Ron Wilson & Don Hudson

11. Undertaker
Halloween Special (Chaos!, 1999) *½

Writers:
Jim & Dan Monti/Artists: Leonardo Jimenez & Don Hillsman

12. WWE
Superstars #1 (Super Genius, 2013) ***

Writer:
Mick Foley & Shane Riches/Artist: Alitha Martinez

The
problem with just about every wrestling comic is that they SUCK on every level!

WCW was godawful and showed that the writer didn’t
understand the first thing about wrestling or the personalities. For example, to
have a heel champion, Lex Luger, face three faces (including lead hero Sting) in
a handicap match...and WIN...only weakened the faces. Especially as Luger left
the series with this issue (he’d jumped to WWF), so the writer didn’t even get
the champ to do the traditional job on the way out of the territory. Who did
Lackey think he was? Vince Russo? Wilson’s art showed that without photo
references, he was hopeless in depicting action in the squared circle.

The Chaos!
line was terrible, and Undertaker was
probably the worse. The whole demons-war-for-souls-while-disguised-as-wrestlers
shtick got tired quickly. The Monti brothers (who? And whatever became of these
schlubs?) wrote in that turgid, sub-Thor
style that stank. The hack artists (whatever became of these schlubs?) just did
a gore-and-flame-filled sub-Liefeld style that was the absolute shits. So it
was pretty much like every other Chaos! title at the time.

So now
we have a new wrestling-themed series, co-written by Mick Foley no less, and
featuring art from veteran Martinez. The idea of wrestlers living and working in
a fictional metropolis called Titan City is a bit silly. The fact that there
seems to be no other citizens other than WWE employees seems odd as well.
Luckily, Foley rises above the lame plot to deliver tight dialogue and some
touches of humour that makes this series a cut above practically any other
series that’s been published. I’ll give it another issue or two to see if maintains
its current reasonable standard.

13.
Justice League 3000 #1 (DC, 2014) ***½

Writer:
Keith Giffen & JM DeMatteis/Artist: Howard Porter

After 2½
years, I’ve pretty much given up on DC’s “The New 52”. I tend to only pick up
stuff that’s non-continuity, like Batman
B&W, Batman ’66 and this wacky new title. In the year 3000, clones of
the JLA are born to fight evil corporations, but this isn’t the team that we
remember. Superman’s an arrogant jerk, Wonder Woman is a psychotic killer,
Flash is a coward who vomits regularly, Green Lantern doesn’t have real GL
powers and Batman is...well, Batman’s still Batman. But they all hate each
other. It’s an interesting premise that I look forward to seeing develop. Just
as long as they keep these guys the hell away from the rest of “The New 52”
universe.

14.-18. The
Sixth Gun: Sons Of The Gun (Oni Press, 2013) ****

-
originally published in The Sixth Gun:
Sons Of The Gun #1-5 (Oni Press, 2013)

Writers:
Cullen Bunn & Brian Hurtt/Artist: Brian Churilla

A nice collection
of the miniseries that explores the background of the General’s horsemen who
originally wielded four of the Six Guns. Both poignant and creepy.

These
two series seemed to show promise, but ultimately the idea of a retro future
city filled with quirky, mysterious heroes and monstrous villains fell down due
to haphazard, at-times confusing scripts. Davis’s art is exquisite, though.

The
usual hackery from the Great One – and would we expect any less from a
90-year-old who’s 50 years past his prime? That said, I’m stunned this series
only went three issues before legitimately being optioned for a movie, which
apparently is why they stopped making it. A Mighty 7 movie? I await it with
baited breath. Saviuk’s art is nice (and he’s a nice guy to boot, having met
him in Supanova earlier this year).

This is
some of Root’s earliest published work. The future Cavewoman artist knew his strengths (busty topless chicks) even
back then. Hoffman’s cover is more Kirby than Wood, but he was at the start of
his career, too. He’d develop that art style in coming years. The alternative
America story is pure strident bullshit with a weird anti-white/militant ethnic
bent that seems really out of place in the early 90s. The historic nature of
the artwork is the only reason why this title is still in my collection.

Both of
these graphic novels are great...but missing an element to make them classics.
This is easily the weakest Parker adaptation to date (I blame the source
material). As for Kindt, he’s taking his “king of weirdness” title too
seriously and this oddball crime mystery gets too weird and convoluted for its
own good.